NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court collegium on Wednesday recommended new chief justices to seven major high courts across the country. The recommendations have been made to the Centre to fast-track the appointments to the existing and future vacancies that may arise in Kerala, Orissa, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Bombay, Telangana and Gujarat high courts.
To fulfil the vacancy that may arise pursuant to the elevation of Kerala High Court Chief Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti as a Supreme Court judge, Justice Ashish J Desai was recommended for the post. Justice Alok Aradhe was suggested as the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court in the case of the elevation of the current Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan as an SC judge. Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur was named for Andhra Pradesh High Court.
With Orissa High Court Chief Justice S Muralidhar set to retire, the collegium has recommended Justice Subhasis Talapatra as his replacement.
Delhi High Court judge Justice Siddharth Mridul has been recommended for the Manipur High Court and Justice Sunita Agarwal of the Allahabad High Court has been recommended for the Gujarat High Court. If appointed, Justice Agarwal would become the only woman high court chief justice as currently there are no women chief justices in any high court.